Mass Effect: Andromeda Gameplay Trailer Revealed

BioWare and Electronic Arts offer The Game Awards viewers their first look at Mass Effect: Andromeda gameplay in action, showing off one of next year’s most anticipated games.

Although last month was packed full of new details about Mass Effect: Andromeda and all BioWare’s latest sequel will offer, the seemingly endless news stream was missing one key component. Gamers had heard a lot about what BioWare was going for with Mass Effect: Andromeda, but they hadn’t seen anything substantial from the game.

Apparently that was for a good reason, as The Game Awards secured the exclusive first look at Mass Effect: Andromeda, which debuted during the show earlier tonight. For all intents and purposes, this was fans’ first look at how Mass Effect: Andromeda will play when it launches early next year.

While fans might have been wondering what Mass Effect: Andromeda might look like on current-gen systems, it appears the answer was right in front of them. For all intents and purposes, Andromeda looks like a continuation of BioWare’s series, with new visual flourishes, improvements to environments, and new abilities and weapons to play around with.

The footage itself gave gamers a look at how Mass Effect: Andromeda will see players starting first in space and then working their way through various planets, accomplishing various missions along the way. That can mean anything from interacting with alien species – complete with dialogue choices and quicktime interactions – or taking a more direct approach and duking it out the old fashioned way.

Speaking of the combat, it appears Andromeda will be offering players more options when it comes to movement. The trailer highlights a boost jump and a boost dash that will allow the player character to move around the battlefield and take up various positions against the enemy. Moreover, there are a few biotic abilities that will assist the player in making quick work of lesser baddies, until the real forces show up.

Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s gameplay trailer also showed how the new Nomad vehicle will get players between various planetary installations, and thankfully the Nomad looks easier to navigate than the Mako was in Mass Effect 1. Traversal and exploration seem to be key elements in the new game, as well as crafting, which BioWare says will make up a large part of the experience. Apparently players will be able to pick up various minerals and turn them into everything from weapons and armor, expanding their arsenal as they go.

All told, the Mass Effect: Andromeda footage hit all the notes it needed to hit as far as satisfying fans. The gameplay looks familiar, yet improved, and with more options to play around with. We’ve now seen what the future of Mass Effect will look like on our TVs and monitors; the only question is when we will actually get to play it.